Split Placements

I see countless posts from recruiters who are curious about split placement recruitment, but aren’t sure how to get started. They’re often asking for advice about how to be successful with splits. I would like to offer two critical tips to improve your odds of success.

1. Commit to excellent communication. Split placement recruitment involves some risk. If you are providing the candidate, you’re trusting the partner to pay you. If you are providing the job, you’re trusting your partner not to interfere with your client relationship. At a minimum:

Use a written, SIGNED agreement that covers all the details from how much the fee is, to when you’ll get paid, and what happens in the event of a fall-off

Be clear about who is doing what … and how and when those tasks will get completed

Don’t withhold information from your partner … be open and transparent

Make a commitment to closing a deal … especially if you’re working on a contingency basis

2. Find someone with a similar working style. We often tell members to keep an open mind about new ways of doing business, and that’s true. Split placement recruitment partners can teach you a lot of new skills and information that you can apply to your business. However, most successful split partnerships in our network are between members who have similar work styles. For example:

Do you like to rely on email, while your partner prefers the phone?

If you’re providing the candidate, are you OK letting your partner control the process? Are you going to try to ‘sell’ your candidate even if your partner’s client wants a different profile?

If you’re providing the job, how do you help your partner recruit on-target candidates?

How often do you expect to hear from your partner?

There are many ways to be a successful recruiter. The way you work works for you. It may not work for someone else. It may not be the same way THEY work. It doesn’t mean either of you are right or wrong, good or bad, just different. If you’re trying to work a deal with someone who has a totally different approach to the business, and you can’t find common ground, it’s OK to move on. Find someone whose style meshes better with your own. It will save you time, heartache, and damaged relationships.

On a search for split placement opportunities, many recruiters seem to question what is the difference between some of the online platforms that they have seen or are currently researching. Here at NPAworldwide, I occasionally am asked by independent recruiters how our network is different and better than BountyJobs. In my opinion, neither one is necessarily better than the other as they are so very different. As an independent recruiter, deciding which to join will depend on how you like to work.

The following is a brief summary of the key differences between NPAworldwide and BountyJobs:

1. Organization Structure
NPAworldwide is a member-owned and -run network of independently-owned recruiting firms that work together to make split placements. The network began in 1956 and has grown into a network of more than 500 firms located throughout the world.

Owners of NPAworldwide firms set the strategic direction of the network. The network is led by a Board of Directors of owners of member firms and has a selective membership process. At the end of the year, profits are re-invested in the network to continue and improve services to our members.

Membership gives independent recruiters and small firms a way to compete in a global marketplace without sacrificing the unique qualities that distinguish them from larger competitors. Members rely on our split placement network to build relationships that result in more effective and efficient service to clients and candidates in their own market. Those relationships translate into enhanced revenue-generating opportunities and increased financial stability. In the process, members also add value to their businesses through improved speed, reach, and capacity.

BountyJobs is a privately-owned company so I do not know how profits are spent or distributed. The organization appears to be a good solution for large employers managing a high volume of open positions resulting in the need for them to manage relationships with many recruiters.

2. Work Style
Success in NPAworldwide is a result of the relationships built between recruiters. The quickest way to build trust with potential trading partners is to meet face-to-face at one of our conferences. Of course, if that is not possible, recruiters develop relationships through telephone, Skype, and/or email conversations.

In BountyJobs, independent recruiters only work with employers and have limited opportunities to build a relationship with an employer until much later in the hiring process.

3. Control
In NPAworldwide, recruiters post jobs and candidates in our private, web-based sharing tool called Matchmaker. Recruiters may work on any job, anywhere in the world. We also have a private Job Board where only NPAworldwide recruiters can post their jobs. Members can post their jobs for free on our Job Board and only pay if they place a Job Board candidate in a job. With NPAworldwide, an individual recruiter is in control of how they work with their trading partners as long as they abide by the Bylaws and operating procedures.

BountyJobs is a one-way street. Employers post jobs through BountyJobs. Then after viewing posted jobs, recruiters may contact employers and request that they be given permission to send candidates to the employers. A recruiter cannot speak with an employer unless the employer authorizes the recruiter to send candidates. After the permission is granted, the recruiter is able to view the full contact information of the employer. Wiith BountyJobs, the employer is definitely in control.

Additionally, NPAworldwide recruiters control the type of guarantee they offer employers. With BountyJobs, recruiters have no control. All recruiters are required to provide a 60-day money back guarantee; no exceptions.

In conclusion, which option is better for independent recruiters to join – NPAworldwide or BountyJobs? It depends! NPAworldwide is a relationship-based network facilitating split placements among its members. If you prefer to not build relationships with your trading partners, then you should consider BountyJobs. Or, if you are undecided, you may want to consider joining both and experiencing them each firsthand.

If you do consider joining BountyJobs as an independent recruiter, I suggest you take some time to understand how candidate ownership is addressed. Specifically, who owns the candidate six months after a recruiter submits the candidate to an employer.

Split placements are good business for independent recruiters. Sure, I’m biased since NPAworldwide is in the business of fostering splits, but I’m still a fan. And here are a few reasons why: Read the rest of this entry »

In a recruitment network, there can be hundreds of trading partners to choose from and work with. If you have a job order, how do you get the attention of a great exporter to provide candidates for it? And likewise, if you have a great candidate, how do you present it to members with jobs? Here are some helpful tips, straight from some of the most successful members of NPAworldwide:

Whether you have a long track record of success or are new to the concept, here are some ideas to help you be a more effective split placement partner.

If you have the job order (“importer” in NPAworldwide lingo):

Supply your split placement partner with a few screening questions. If there are critical areas that need to be confirmed prior to an interview, consider supplying those screening questions to your partner. These could be as simple as “What size budget did you manage?” or “How many years have you been programming in Ruby on Rails?” The point here is that you’re helping your partner screen more specifically to your client’s needs. Your partner will be able to have better conversations with potential candidates and you’ll get the value-added detail you’re expecting.

Know your audience! The job description that you (or your client) wrote is FOR THE CANDIDATE. It is NOT for your split-placement partner. The language used is likely marketing-oriented with lots of sizzle. This does not give your partner good information for searching. Tell your partner specifically what machines are being used, what size the facility is, how many direct reports and at what levels, what kind of technology is in use. The more granular the detail, the better your partner will be able to target the right candidates.

As we are officially in the second half of the year, I thought it would be interesting to review our split placements data for the first six months of the year. Global split activity is up a solid 22% over the same time frame last year. Members in the northeastern US have seen placements increase by 34% so far this year. Elsewhere, split placements have more than doubled in Australia/New Zealand as well as in Asia compared to last year. Perhaps not coincidentally, employment in Australia more than tripled the estimated June numbers, and our membership in the region has also increased by 22% compared to last year. Read the rest of this entry »

There will always be a need for recruiters. Recruiters know how to identify and find talent for roles that require exceptional talent. A great recruiter has interviewed, assessed and researched thousands of people in that niche, and knows who the highly talented people are. They also know how to properly present candidate submissions to not only their client/hiring manager, but a trading partner.

In a recruiting network, one of the common complaints is receiving candidate resumes from another recruiter without any value-added. Recruiters receive hundreds of emails, and if you just blast them with a resume and no details/write-up/personal comment, they may think you may have just grabbed a resume off Monster or Indeed and don’t “deserve” to collect half a fee… so they won’t bother looking at the candidate or working with you. Read the rest of this entry »

There are many different split placement models and options for recruiters to consider. Over time, I’ve learned that there are also different ways to define or describe split placements. At its simplest level, we define a traditional split placement as a placement that involves two separate recruiters, from two separate recruitment firms. One recruiter represents the candidate and the other recruiter represents the client company. The two recruiters work together to fill the open role and share the fee that the client company pays. A 50-50 split of the commission is the most common arrangement, but certainly not the only option. In our network, we further require that each partner has a direct relationship with the entity they are representing. Read the rest of this entry »

Today’s guest blogger is Bill Benson with WilliamCharles Search Group located in Grand Rapids, MI. WilliamCharles is an executive search and professional recruiting firm specialized in finding managerial and executive talent in finance, HR, operations, sales/marketing as well as president/CEO roles. They have a concentration of clients in Michigan but they also work across the US. Bill is the chairman-elect of the NPAworldwide Board of Directors.

One of my bosses in the 80s (dating myself) would always say ours is a simple business, “It takes a job order and a candidate,” and, “If you’re on the phone, you’re making money – let’s not overcomplicate it.” Hard to dismiss entirely because he is now CEO of Robert Half International. In those days, not being on the phone meant a quick path to the door. Read the rest of this entry »

There is a saying in recruitment that time kills all deals. When it comes to successful split placements, I believe poor communication kills deals. Whether you’re committed to splits on your own, with an informal group of partners, or as part of a network, strong communication … maybe even “over-communication” … is the key to success. Here are a few examples: Read the rest of this entry »

Quick Links

For more than 60 years, NPAworldwide has been connecting independent global recruiting firms to facilitate split placements. NPAworldwide is the oldest recruiting network of its kind, with an international membership of recruiting firms located throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, and the Americas.